ok, I have come to find that there are not enought hours in a day?
and i need to make up a schedule of sorts to try & cram more time into my day. Currently I am making all 3 meals for my husband and I in addition to being the primary caretaker of a little creature that is eating every 2 hours or so. I feel like i'm always in the kitchen/cleaning up the kitchen and nothing else ever gets done.
so i've decided beginning tomorrow that I am going to make all my dinner meals for the week on sunday, and have easier go to breakfast items prepped for the week. As far as lunch I will do the same thing, make and then freeze.
So as far as all of the cooking goes I am pretty set. But I am wondering, what do you all do to help you get your little one ready for the week? Do you make bottles? Do you lay their clothes out the night before so you can actually get out of the house? What tips do you have for me that may make my day seem longer and more productive. any advice will be appreciated. Thanks moms! :-D
Cindy; mum to 3 monkeys!2009-07-04T04:58:32Z
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I have 3 kids (& a hubby i call my 4th child) and i am a SAHM so i do everything inside the home.
I don't cook in advance or pre-prepare anything for the coming week, i just try to stay on top of things on a day to day basis and only set small tasks for the day.
I always put a load of washing on as soon as i get up each morning, then make lunches and breakfast between 7-7.30am and then get everyone dressed, teeth brushed and all that. If you always put the washing away once it is dry its easy to grab a shirt and pants out the cupboard everyday. There should be no need to lay anything out. Breakfast is strictly cereal (healthy ones) and milk in this household as its nutritious, quick to eat and easy! Weetbix, cornflakes and uncle toby's mixed cereals are favourites. I hang out the washing and do the dishes, I shower around 8.15am and get dressed (no time for make up or hair!) We leave about 8.40 am for the school drop off.
I find between 9am & 2.30pm is when i have to get housework done like vacuming, dishes, washing, cleaning bathrooms etc...and also run errands and do grocery shopping. But on days i do shopping i wouldn't be vacumming or cleaning bathrooms. You have to set tasks for each day, not do everything in one day.
After 3pm when the kids are back home from school/kindy we make afternoon tea, go outside to play for a while and i get the washing off the line and put it away At 4.30pm aidan has his dinner, 5pm is bath/shower time for all kids and 5.30pm aidan has his bottle and i start cooking dinner so we eat around 6.15-6.30 Aidan (the baby) goes to bed at 6pm The older kids bedtime is 7.30 pm, once they are asleep i do a quick run around of the kitchen and loungeroom to tidy it, max 15mins really.
You need to cut back kitchen duty by the sounds of it so you need to either make easier stuff or buy prepacked stuff to make it easier until you have worked out a better routine for yourself Cereal or toast is fine for breakfast so do away with any cooked breakfasts.....max time 5 mins to make toast or a bowl of cereal Lunch for hubby is easy....a sandwhich and some snacks and fruit should take no more than 7 mins to prepare for him Dinner needs to be less hassle. Use a slow cooker and chuck it all together in the morning and its all done by dinner time. Don't cook anything that takes longer than 30-60mins from starting prep to finish unless you have scheduled the extra time for it.
Bottles for the baby gets done everyday after they are washed. Its easy to just wash them, chuck them in the microwave steriliser if you need to, then fill with boiling water from the kettle and chuck in the fridge till needed. Do it while you are cleaning up the kitchen from breakfast maybe
Once you start setting yourself a time routine like breakfast 7am, baby bath 5pm, dinner 6.30pm and things like that...things will get a lot easier. You just need to have achievable goals and stick to a routine.
Don't make meals in advance, its really not necessary, just set a routine and stick to it even with the baby. All my baby's were breastfed and i still managed to stick to a routine and the baby just slotted itself right into it.